Official numbers have confirmed that shares of Palm Inc., the manufacturer of the Pre smartphone, took a dip to fall the most in over two years in NASDAQ trading, mainly on the back of the company's forecast of a sales figure for this quarter which was less than 50% of the expectation pegged by analysts.

The firm has predicted that the revenue in the aforementioned period, ending May, 2010, would be less than $150 Million. The figure was shared by Palm's Chief Financial Officer, Doug Jeffries.

The $150 Million prediction falls mighty short of the $300 Million average of estimates put together by Bloomberg News.

Also, Palm reported its 11th consecutive quarterly loss.

Shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Palm slipped by $1.65, or 29%, to $4, in Friday trading.

The company's most influential investor, which currently holds a 25% stake in it, Elevation Partners, stood firmly by the smartphone manufacturer, while stressing that Palm still has "enormous opportunity".

"Jon (Chief Executive and Chairman) and his team have built the best mobile operating system available today and they are now working through short-term execution challenges with Elevation's complete support", Elevation said.